The United States has deployed F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters to the Philippines for the start of Cope Thunder Philippines 25-2, a bilateral air exercise that runs from 7–18 July. The U.S. Pacific Air Forces’ 421st Fighter Squadron flew the fifth-generation jets to Clark Air Base on Monday, marking one of the aircraft’s largest forward operations in the country to date. Exercise planners said 225 U.S. personnel and an undisclosed number of F-35s will train alongside 2,301 Philippine airmen operating FA-50 fighters, A-29B Super Tucanos, and Black Hawk helicopters across several ranges in Northern Luzon. Opening-day events included a joint F-35/FA-50 patrol over the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, aimed at sharpening air-defense coordination and demonstrating combined deterrence. The deployment follows last week’s port call of the USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class carrier, in Manila and comes amid parallel U.S. Air Force–Marine air-surveillance drills in Okinawa. Taken together, the activities underscore Washington’s push to deepen security cooperation with Manila and reinforce its posture across the Indo-Pacific.